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Author: rostanetek

Join Aurora Alliance CDS Network of Universities

Written by rostanetek on . Posted in Calls, News.

The Capacity Development Support Programme (CDS) of the Aurora European Universities Alliance is looking for universities to collaborate with.

The CDS programme is designed to help reduce the disparities between the research-leading and research-emerging countries in Europe by assisting universities in Central-Eastern Europe and Neighboring Countries to develop their institutional capacity for academic excellence and societal relevance. The expected outcomes are to spread the Aurora Alliance principles, values, skills, working processes and practical learnings to some 30 target universities in Europe and beyond.

To this end, Aurora Capacity Development Support Network of Universities (CDS Network of Universities) is being set up, with the purpose to articulate and strengthen the collaboration in supporting universities that are interested in the same objectives as Aurora Alliance member universities: in equipping diverse student populations with the skills and mind-set to address societal challenges as social entrepreneurs and innovators; in engaging with students and stakeholders at regional, national, European and global level; and in making our universities sustainable organisations.

The Aurora CDS Network of Universities is an inclusive platform for universities that want to work with Aurora’s common objectives. Applicant universities should freely express interest in the Aurora Alliance CDS mission as described in the Introduction section of this document by submitting a Letter of Intent and a University Fact Sheet to Tereza Kalousková via email at

The criteria for joining us is the following:

  • Applicant universities understand the key objectives of the Aurora Alliance programme and are interested in furthering in at least some of these objectives at their institutions.
  • Applicant universities express willingness to invest time and bring their resources and expertise to the collaboration.
  • Applicants are made aware of external funding needed for collaboration activities developing in the Network.

Applicants will be assessed on a rolling basis 2021-2022 by the CDS Task Team, led by Palacky University Olomouc with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam as co-lead. In the assessment, the opinion of the Associate Partners will be sought.

What We Offer – Network Programme

During the 2021-2023 period of collaboration, we focus our exchanges on awareness-raising training events and projects developed together, focusing:

  • Virtual Mobility/Internationalization at home
  • Co-creation and Service Learning
  • Inclusive, Equal and Diverse Education
  • Academic Competence Skill in Social Entrepreneurship.

The continued programme and activates of the Network will be a subject of evolving collaboration and co-sharing of interests in the internationalisation of higher education.

Cooperation Arrangement

There will be no legally binding duties between the members as a result of entering into the Network collaboration. Any bilateral agreements between the Network universities are subject to the inter-institutional arrangements and internal institutional regulations and policy in international cooperation.

For more information, please access the information sheet .

Ample opportunity for UI in the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Written by rostanetek on . Posted in News.

Leads of the Aurora SDG Education Dashboard,  Auður Pálsdóttir, assistant professor at the School of Education, in collaboration with Lára Jóhannsdóttir, professor of environment and natural resources at the School of Social Sciences have led an in that analysed over 3300 courses at the University of Iceland on the sustainable content.

 

Over the past five years, the UN Sustainable

Development Goals have been guiding principles in international affairs, ever since the member states agreed to work towards them in September 2015. The SDGs, which total 17 and apply for the period 2016-2030, apply to all areas of society, since they are intended, for example, to combat global poverty and hunger and promote economic prosperity, peace, universal human rights, and sustainability in all areas to benefit the climate and environment.

The SDGs have started to receive more and more attention in the work of the University of Iceland. For example, the University has organized a series of lectures in which UI scientists and representatives of Icelandic society have explained the significance of the goals and targets, as well as pathways to achieving the goals. A review has also been carried out to find out where courses at the University of Iceland involve sustainable development and education in the spirit of the UN SDGs. This work was organised by Auður Pálsdóttir, assistant professor at the School of Education, in collaboration with Lára Jóhannsdóttir, professor of environment and natural resources at the School of Social Sciences.

Analysed 3,300 courses

“The project involved analysing the University of Iceland course catalogue for the winter 2019-2020, looking closely at course descriptions and learning outcomes for all courses at all five schools, a total of around 3,300. The goal was to map the available courses and their content in consideration of the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” says Auður.

Naturally, this was a considerable amount of work and so Auður and Lára recruited five students from the School of Education, each of whom completed a Master’s thesis based on the research. “Each Master’s student analysed all the courses at one school. Hafdís Ósk Jónsdóttir analysed courses at the School of Social Sciences, Guðjón Már Sveinsson analysed courses at the School of Health Sciences, Bjarni Bachmann analysed courses at the School of Humanities, Hildur Hallkelsdóttir analysed courses at the School of Education and Atli Rafnsson analysed courses at the School of Engineering and Natural Sciences. Each Master’s student also completed an individual project with a focus of their own choosing,” explains Auður.

Auður and Lára are both members of the UI Sustainability and Environmental Committee which has been working to shape the University’s new sustainability policy. “In other countries as well in Iceland, there is not much information about where university courses are working with the SDGs. We therefore decided to map all UI courses, whether they were taught this winter or not, because many courses are offered every other year but are part of an integral whole in the study programme,” says Auður of the inspiration behind the project.

We need to keep working with the SDGs within the University

In connection with the project, the team developed a special analytical key and a list of terminology in Icelandic and English containing key words for each SDG. These were used in the analysis. The Master’s students then created their own analytical key or criteria, each for their own individual projects, which were also used. The analytical keys were tested and fine-tuned in the course of the collaboration. “The aim was to ensure that working practices were as consistent as possible in order to guarantee reliable results and valid comparison between the schools,” explains Auður.

Auður says that the results of the project have revealed that there is ample opportunity for the University of Iceland related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. “In many aspects, the University appears to be in a similar situation to other universities who are finding their way in the introduction of the SDGs. However, it seems we urgently need to focus on the key competencies which the UN defined in parallel to the SDGs as a requirement for work towards the goals and which apply to all studies,” adds Auður.

Key competencies are abilities that people acquire regardless of the content of the academic subject. “For example, the ability to analyse and understand different systems and how they are linked, the ability to apply critical thinking and be creative and the ability to collaborate and deal with conflict. Students acquire these key competencies through studying any of a wide range of subjects related to many kinds of knowledge, but also people’s preferences and interests. In light of this, the United Nations has long emphasised that students should be able to influence what and how they learn.”

Auður adds that the SDGs are extremely broad and much of this is not, at first sight, relevant to Iceland. “So we have to discuss and work with the SDGs so that everyone at the University understands their content and aims and how we at UI can do our bit for the global community in sustainable development and sustainability education. We are doing a lot at the University that fits in well with the path to sustainable development, but this is not made sufficiently explicit in the course catalogue,” says Auður.

Aurora Alliance – Research and Innovation for Societal Impact Project Accepted

Written by rostanetek on . Posted in News.

It is our greatest pleasure to announce that the Aurora Alliance application for research and innovation has been honoured with a grant within the SWAFS program of Horizon 2020.

With the acceptance of this proposal, the alliance will further develop the Aurora European University Alliance program’s research and innovation dimension. The University of Iceland will coordinate the Aurora RI SWAFS project.

The focus of the Aurora Alliance – Research and Innovation for Societal Impact project is to strengthen and empower research support by sharing research infrastructure, strengthening and aligning Open Science policies in line with EU frameworks, and cooperation with other actors and empowering staff and students. This will complement the Aurora Learning for Societal Impact strategy with a long-term Aurora strategy towards research and innovation (R&I) for Societal Impact, aiming to support the achievement of the SDGs related to the four priority domains of the Aurora Alliance programme: i) Sustainability and Climate Change, ii) Digital Society and Global Citizenship, iii) Health and Wellbeing, and iv) Culture, Diversity and Identity.

In line with the overall objective, the project will develop and achieve seven specific objectives that provide the necessary stepping stones for the Aurora Alliance structural and sustainable change. The seven objectives are:

  1. Objective 1: Development of an Aurora support plan for research and innovation
  2. Objective 2: Develop best practices for pooling research infrastructures, expertise, data and resources
  3. Objective 3: Strengthen cooperation on entrepreneurial activity and creating an Aurora innovation ecosystem
  4. Objective 4: Develop the capacities and capabilities of Aurora researchers and support staff
  5. Objective 5: Sharing best practices on Open Science
  6. Objective 6: Embedding Citizens and societal engagement further into our research activities
  7. Objective 7: Maximise impact through collaboration with other European Universities

By matching the educational and institutional focus on support with a research and innovation aspect, the Aurora RI project will further complement the goals of the Erasmus+ project and intensify and deepen the links between the universities on several levels. This, in turn, will help to build a common identity as part of the European knowledge system, which combines education with research and innovation. We are glad that we are part of such an innovative programme and look forward to realising our first objectives.

For further information on the research and innovation project contact:  Úlfar Kristinn Gíslason at ulfarg@hi.is

Aurora Care and Compassion Student Event

Written by rostanetek on . Posted in Events.

The Aurora Student Council is delighted to be hosting the Aurora Care and Compassion Student event. This free virtual conference is packed with engaging content showing how Aurora cares for issues in modern society and will get students involved in activities and conversation across 4 key areas. These areas are Mental Health and Wellbeing, Open Educational Resources, Celebrating and Promoting Diversity, and Sustainability.

Students’ participation in these activities and conversations will give them practical skills to take away and also help Aurora embed student voice into the heart of many exciting projects. We want students to learn about Aurora and equip them with the tools to champion Aurora’s values in their own universities.

If you are a student interested in any of these topics or you know of students that would be interested, click the link here to register your interest and come and join us on March 30th 2021.

Click here for the program of the event.

Follow this page for updates on this event

Aurora Spring Academic Meeting

Written by rostanetek on . Posted in Events.

Meet peers facing similar challenges in providing students with high-quality education and with international opportunities in a forced online environment.

Learn what support Aurora is organising to assist academic teachers in meeting these challenges.

On March 30th, from 9 am to 1 pm (CET), Aurora is hosting its Spring Academic meeting. It will be a platform to meet with peers and discuss how to provide high quality learning under the currently restricted conditions.

The Aurora Spring Academic meeting is a follow up to the Aurora Community building event of January 28th, 2019, focusing on the same domains.

The Spring meeting is an event in the Aurora Alliance European University programme, which aims to strengthen the way in which Aurora students are equipped with the skills and mind-sets to act as social entrepreneurs and innovators in addressing societal problems.

The Event

The Spring Academic meeting aims at academic who feel attached to the following domains:

  1. Sustainability & Climate Change
  2. Digital Society & Global Citizenship
  3. Health & Well-being
  4. Culture: Diversity & Identity
  5. Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

The Spring event is organised mostly in parallel strands for each of the domains to meet. There will be ample time in the programme to freely discuss topics of mutual interest – in education, research or otherwise. The core of the programme will be sessions on two key challenges in higher education with the current restrictions:

  • How are we as academic teachers finding our way from high-quality analogue (or offline) to digital (or online) education,
  • How can we continue to provide our students with a meaningful international experience, particularly in the pandemic and post-pandemic context,

Topics and tools

The Aurora Spring Academic event is an excellent opportunity to find out how your university’s participation in Aurora can be valuable to you: as a platform to meet with peers, find out how you can learn from and with each other, learn about the tools Aurora is developing to support the member universities in providing academically excellent and societally relevant education.

In the sessions, you will have the opportunity to discuss what you see as the most pressing issues in these two key challenges – and how these can be addressed.

With the maintenance of quality in virtual education, there will be specific attention to higher education’s value beyond the subject-related knowledge and skills.

With continued international dimensions with less physical mobility, there will be specific attention on tools and platforms for virtual mobility and online joint courses.

The Aurora Spring Academic event will be hosted on the Gatherly platform, which allows you to freely move and chat with participants in groups of two’s or three’s or more.

Info-desks

Before and after the sessions, you may visit info desks on the various tools and platforms developed in the Aurora European University Alliance programme; see below under the programme description.

You can stop by the info desks of your interest and get in touch with the colleagues involved.

Take-aways

So what can you expect as takeaways from this event?

  1. Meet, discuss and arrange follow-up contact with peers on your issues and concerns in the transit from analogue to high-quality digital education and/or students’ international opportunities
  2. Find out about existing good practices in high-quality digital education and virtual international experience
  3. Learn about useful Aurora tools and platforms for these challenges and meet the experts who can help you use them.

Please view the full programme of the event here.

Follow this page for updates on this event.

International Learning Lab

Written by rostanetek on . Posted in Events.

On the 17th of June 2021, the Aurora Service Learning Toolbox (SL Toolbox) will be launched at the International Learning Lab and will take place from 15:30 to 18:00 CEST.

The Toolbox will provide relevant tools/resources to interested teachers and students to learn about SL. These tools could further strengthen existing SL courses and can provide inspiration to teachers on how to transform an existing course into an SL one. It will also have resources for both teachers and students to learn about the essential concepts of SL including participation, reflexivity, and community engagement.

The event is open for students, teachers and experts from the Aurora universities and other national/international guest Universities for a wider discourse on service learning.

The event will include talks from international SL experts: Prof. Robert Bringle (Professor Emeritus, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, USA), Prof. Wolfgang Stark (Professor Emeritus, Universität Duisburg Essen, Germany), and Prof. Marjolein Zweekhorst (Professor, Athena Institute, VU Amsterdam).

The event will also include presentations of students from Interdisciplinary Service Learning (iCSL2) – an “Aurorised” course open to Master students from any discipline/program across Aurora universities.

Click here for more information and access to the zoom meeting ID and password.

Digital Society, Social Justice and Academic Education

Written by rostanetek on . Posted in Events.

Date and time: Tuesday, March 23, 2021, at 5:00 p.m. (17:00) Central European Time (UTC+1) Panellists: Saa Dittoh (UDS, Ghana), Narayanan Kulathuramaiyer (UNIMAS, Malaysia), Anna Bon (VU Amsterdam, the Netherlands) Moderator: Hans Akkermans (w4ra.org, the Netherlands) An important open question of Digital Humanism is how ethical and social aspects of digital technologies and associated matters of human values and social justice can be handled appropriately in academic research and education. A possible approach is to create interdisciplinary courses on ethics and philosophy of technology such as “Tech Ethics”. This panel investigates approaches that have their roots in direct collaboration from academia with outside (underprivileged, marginalised) communities as an integral element of research and education. Case examples and experiences from three different continents are discussed, giving some perspective on the simultaneous universality and contextualises of human values and social justice.

TALKS:

Knowledge for Service: Digital Technology Positives and Negatives in African Rural Societies Saa Dittoh

Many decades ago (and possibly now in some areas) in rural Africa, communal methods of information sharing were not always face-to-face; some were virtual, through high-pitched voices and loud sounding “talking drums” that gave “coded information”. No wonder that many African rural societies have no reservations about adopting appropriate modern digital technologies. The rapid advance in digital technology has been positive in many ways. Still, several harmful and damaging aspects threaten the values, cultures, and even the very existence of some African rural societies’ very existence. In this talk, I discuss those threats and suggests ways to counter them. This talk further highlights how knowledge can be put to service and how university students can be engaged in this.

Digital Sociotechnical Innovation and Indigenous Knowledge Narayanan Kulathuramaiyer

In this talk, I will discuss how university research and education on digital technology can empower under-served communities. I particularly describe the eBario program as a long-standing university-community partnership between the rural Kelabit community, one of Borneo ethnic minorities, and the University Malaysia Sarawak. This program to bridge the digital divide started in 1998, with the indigenous Kelabit community taking on the information and knowledge creation pathway as a way forward. Over the past two decades, the program has evolved to become recognised as a living laboratory, influencing practice and policy, with, for example, a role in poverty reduction. eBario, as an ICT for Development model, has been replicated to cover eight other sites across the Peninsula and East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. However, the biggest achievement resides in the development of community scholars and the community-led life-long-learning initiatives that go on till today.

Digital Divide, Inclusion and Community Service Learning Anna Bon

Community service-learning (CSL) is an educational approach that we have further developed in collaboration with universities and stakeholders in the Global South into a research and education model dubbed: ICT4D 3.0. This model combines problem-solving and situational learning with meaningful service to communities and society. In computer science and artificial intelligence education – traditionally purely technologically oriented – ICT4D 3.0 integrates CSL’s societal and ethical principles with user-centred design and socio-technical problem-solving. Being exposed to complex, societal real-world problems, students learn by exploring, reflecting, co-designing in close interaction with communities in a real-world environment. This type of education provides a rich learning environment for “Bildung”.

To participate via Zoom with password: 0dzqxqiy. The talk will also be live-streamed and recorded on YouTube.

For further announcements and information about the speakers, see here.

Spring School on Transferable Skills for PhD and Master students

Written by rostanetek on . Posted in Events.

Are you thinking about the next step in your career? This 2-day online Spring School will focus on developing skills in grant and CV writing and how to get a faculty position. We will give an overview of the breadth of interviews that can be expected on your interview journey and provide a space to practice interview questions. We will discuss team management and gender equality in academia and research and how games may improve your work-life.

The Spring School is free and will be held online on Zoom on the 4th and 5th of May 2021. The School is open to all Master and PhD students of UNINA and the Aurora network from the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) area. The School is organized by the Internationalization Committee of the Department of Pharmacy in collaboration with the University of Glasgow (United Kingdom).

Organizers:

  • Valeria Costantino, University of Naples Federico II (Internationalization Dean for Erasmus)
  • Pasquale Maffia, University of Naples Federico II/University of Glasgow (Chair International Committee Department of Pharmacy)

To register, please send an email to internationalfarmacia@unina.it by the 1st of May. A link to the event will be sent to all participants.

Teaching in an International Classroom

Written by rostanetek on . Posted in Events.

This series of two one-day online workshops are designed for academics to enhance their intercultural skills and broaden the scope of pedagogical competencies of teaching internationally diverse classrooms.

Outcomes and Highlights:

  • Increased understanding of how culture influences our teaching and learning;
  • Pedagogies respecting different learning styles, needs, and supporting student engagement;
  • Creating inclusive classrooms for all, both international and domestic students;
  • Enhancement of academics’ intercultural skills;
  • Designing international courses with global learning objectives and well-built syllabi.

Cost: 5,500 CZK (210,- Euro)

SCHEDULE:

  • 1st-day session: the 23rd of April 9:00–12:15, 13:00–16:15
  • 2nd-day session: the 11th of June 9:00–12:15, 13:00–16:15

For detailed information, see: https://iei.upol.cz/trainings/

For registration email: eva.janebova@upol.cz (official registration is closed)

Aurora COVID Student Conference

Written by rostanetek on . Posted in Events.

The University of East Anglia (UEA) are delighted to be hosting the second Aurora COVID Student Conference on 7th May from 14:00-17:00 (BST). This is a free virtual conference for students from across all Aurora Universities to hear from, and engage with, experts working at Aurora partner institutions who have been active in responding to and researching the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Confirmed speakers are Prof Helena Gillespie and Prof Yoon Loke (UEA), Ingibjörg Magnúsdóttir and Anna Bára Unnarsdóttir (University of Iceland), with Dr. Kelly Edmunds and Prof Neil Ward (UEA) also available for questions.

This conference should be of particular interest to students who are interested in infectious diseases or who are considering a project or dissertation related to COVID-19. The conference will close with a discussion of the key themes that emerge during the plenary sessions. To register your interest in joining this free conference, please email Maria.Fox@uea.ac.uk before 13:00 May 7th 2021.

 

Conference schedule

14:00 Opening Remarks by Prof Neil Ward (UEA)

14:10 Counting the harm from COVID – an inexact science by Prof Yoon Loke (UEA)

14:50 The Icelandic COVID-19 National Resilience Cohort – preliminary results for students by Ingibjörg Magnúsdóttir and Anna Bára Unnarsdóttir (University of Iceland)

15:30 Break

15:45 Internationalisation and Study Abroad After Covid by Prof Helena Gillespie (UEA)

16:25 Conference Discussion / Questions from attendees Chaired by Prof Neil Ward

17:00 Conference Close